


The world’s closing in on me and everything feels wrong – so please stay with me

by AutisticWriter



Series: Riley's Prompt Meme Fills [14]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Anti-shippers don't interact, Autism, Autism Acceptance Month 2019, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Nanami Chiaki, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Ficlet, Gift Fic, Hugs, Human Nanami Chiaki, Love, Sensory Overload, shutdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 08:09:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18362039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: Chiaki falls into a shutdown, and when Hajime finds her, he tries his best to help.





	The world’s closing in on me and everything feels wrong – so please stay with me

It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it hits her hard. For a girl like Nanami Chiaki, a person who spends most of her time in a world of her own playing video games, interacting with the real world doesn’t come naturally. And even at a school as chilled about following the rules as Hope’s Peak Academy, there are times when she has to put her Game Girl away and actually interact. And… it’s on days like this when it happens.

All the students on the main course are lead into the hall one morning, and Chiaki starts fiddling with the zipper of her hoodie the moment she takes a seat between Sonia and Mahiru. She’s not worried, exactly, but… okay, she might be worried. Last time she had to sit through an assembly full of teachers and other people talking into the microphone (too loud) and applause as the students in the year above her got their exam results (too loud too loud), Chiaki went into a shutdown.

And… it’s happening again. She hates hates hates shutdowns, but that doesn’t stop it happening. As she sits in the hall, the chair is too hard and the air is too hot and everyone is too close and she wants to run away… but she can’t. And Chiaki finds her heart rate increasing and goosebumps prickling on her oversensitive skin, and the overhead lighting burns into her eyes and she wants to cry but no tears will come.

She bites back a whimper, wrapping her arms around herself and hunching forwards slightly in her seat. Chiaki bows her head and… just sits there.

She wants to stim and make herself feel better, but she just can’t. All she can do is sit there and hug herself and grit her teeth as the world seems to close in on her. Chiaki sits there and everything goes kind of muffled, until she spaces out and loses track of things completely.

When the assembly is over, someone shakes her arm and she jumps.

“Chiaki?” Mahiru says, but her voice… it’s like she’s talking underwater.

Chiaki wants to look up and respond, but she doesn’t know how. All she knows is that everything is wrong and all she can do is close in on herself and sit too tense and long for this to be over.

Still, she manages to drag herself to her feet and stumble out of the hall with the rest of her classmates. Chiaki tries to pay attention to what everyone else does, but she can’t get through the fog in her brain. All she notices is that everyone scatters in different directions and of course they do because it’s class again and class means doing whatever the hell you want at this school and she just staggers off to somewhere or other, feet dragging and vision out of focus.

She thought she was wandering aimlessly, but Chiaki finds herself at the fountain on campus. The fountain she and Hajime meet up at—

Hajime!

Even through the fog, she manages a weak smile. Before it slips from her face.

She needs Hajime. He can help. He’s so good with helping her. She loves him. She needs him.

Why isn’t he here?

Chiaki sits on the cold stone, hugging herself tighter, and screws her eyes up. She hates feeling like this; it’s like the feeling you get in your head when you’re dehydrated or sleep deprived, but so much worse.

She’s out of the stressful situation, so why won’t it end?

At this point, she loses track of everything, and just sits there, longing for everything to go back to normal.

\---

“Hey, Chiaki.”

A soft voice. A soft, familiar voice. A soft, familiar, slightly worried voice.

Hajime’s voice.

It only seemed like seconds, but when she forces her eyes open and sees the sun low in the sky, Chiaki realises she must have been sat here for hours.

She turns her head to look at Hajime, at the anxious frown on his face and the Game Girl gripped in his hands.

“Is this a shutdown?” Hajime asks, skipping pointless questions like ‘are you okay?’.

Chiaki manages a nod, blinking slowly.

“Is it nearing the end?”

“Probably,” she mumbles, voice tiny.

“Would you like a hug?”

When a shutdown is at its worst, everything hurts. But when it’s nearing the end like this, Chiaki can handle touch, provided it is firm pressure – just like a Hajime Hug.

“Please,” she whispers.

Hajime nods and shuffles closer, and wraps his arms around Chiaki. He hugs her tightly, pulling her close, and Chiaki buries her face in his neck. Hajime rests his chin on the top of her head.

“Is that okay?” he asks.

“Perfect,” Chiaki says.

For a while, they just sit there, Hajime hugging Chiaki as she slowly comes out of the horrible shutdown.

“Please stay,” she whispers.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Hajime says. “I promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want me to write you a short fic, drop in a prompt at my [personal prompt meme](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AutisticWriters_Personal_Prompt_Meme)!


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